Arms - length and how many? - MACRO

Hello everyone,

I have an Olympus TG-6 with backscatter tray.

It currently has a sola 2500 flood light connected via loc-line (flex?) arm.

I want to add a second light and wondering if I should get two arms connected by a clamp or a single arm?

How many arms and what length?

I primarily photograph macro and sometimes the critters are hiding in anemone or crevices.

Thank you.

Two arms with a clamp  gives a lot more flexibility,  you can't for example get super close to the lens with a single rigid arm.  So that would be two arms and 3 clamps per light.  As to length if it is mainly macro two 5"-125mm arms or a 5"and and 8"arm would be a good starting point.  The long/short arm gives you some flexibility to get the light level with the lens more easily if you wanted to get it at that angle.

See, I cannot visualize how a pair of short or a pair of short/long would affect dexterity/

I tried looking on youtube but could not seem to find clips explaining or demonstrating this.

Trust me, it makes a difference.  With a single rigid arm you can only move the arm in a single arc, if you have two you can pivot both arms to make a longer arm, if you have both arms vertical you can have the light sitting right above your hand on the tray handle.  You can't achieve that position with a single rigid arm.  It also gives more flexibility in moving the light forward of the camera for backlighting effects for example or behind the camera to better control backscatter.   This is a reasonable strating article to explain positioing:

https://www.opticaloceansales.com/files/OOS-Strobe-Positioning.pdf

Certainly agree that two articulating arms are better than one.

But two short or a short end a long?

Thank you.

The most common arrangement is one long one short, with the short on the handle.

There are lots of arrangements that can work, but the crucial ingredient is that you should be able to easily adjust and move your lights/strobes in order to achieve creative effects.

So if you are shooting super macro, you probably only need one short arm, but if you are backlighting subjects, you may well need  one or even two longer arm sections. 

I would get a selection, and experiment...

Adam